Silence is Golden

March 31, Friday, the Fifth week of Lent
Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10: 31-42

‘Speech is silver, but silence is golden.’ Once, Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria travelled to a monastery in the Egyptian desert. The abbot and the younger monks welcomed him in silence to the abbey. The younger monks were feeling a bit restless with the silence. So they asked their elder, Abbot Pambo, to say something to the Archbishop. “Say a word or two to the bishop, so that, he may be edified,” they said. Abbot Pambo replied in a soft voice: “If the Bishop is not edified by my silence, there is no hope that he will be edified by my words.” Sometimes silence can be more powerful than words.

In the gospel according to St John, chapter 8 verses 21- 30 the dispute on the identity of Jesus as the Son of God continues. Jesus continues his efforts to convince the Jews of his authenticity as the Son of God, by turning their attention to his good works. Even then they were not convinced. The Jews accuse Jesus of blasphemy. There are three sins for which the penalty in Judaism is to stone a person to death. They are blasphemy, adultery, and murder. They pick up stones to kill him. When words did not seem to work, he turned to the path of silence. He moves to the wilderness and continues on his path of silence even during his passion and death.

People of the world are able to silence the people of the kingdom with their words and arguments. But sometimes silence can become a more powerful weapon than loud words and arguments.

May we find meaning in silence when our words seem meaningless. Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus can hear even its silence.”